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Lords of the North a novel by Bernard Cornwell.

This novel is the third installment of in the series: “The Saxon Tales”—the previous titles were The Last Kingdom and The Pale Horseman. Set in the late 800’s in Britain the series deals with the life of Uthred, the son of a Northumbian lord who was raised by Danes and is now a warrior for Alfred the Great. In the novels, Uthred’s travels between the Danes(pagans) and the Saxons(Christians) fighting for and against each, all in an effort to reclaim his rightful estate in Northumbra which was usurped by his uncle. In the process he is party to the avenging of several wrongful deaths and, some what reluctantly, helping Alfred unite Britain while sharing his adventures with a variety of characters, real and fictional. There are plenty of battles and sword fights where men meet their demise in very nasty ways.

Cornwell writes an excellent novel and has based this series on what is known about this era of British history using a combination of fictional characters with real ones against historical facts and places. This combination gives the reader some idea of the times but, better still, makes for a page turner—I completed the 314 page novel in a couple of sittings because I couldn’t put it down. The only problem is that, now with this entry in the series finished, I have to wait another year to see what will happen next. (Cornwell hints that there are other novels to come so the next book–ala Harry Potter–will probably not end it.) At least the novels are being narrated by an eighty-year old Uthred so we know he survives his adventures.

This series, btw, is not Cornwell’s first as he has done four other series plus a few other novels. Perhaps, he is best known for his 20-novel “Sharpes Series” which takes Richard Sharpes through the Napoleonic wars and was made into a ITV/ BBC TV movie last year.

The Man Watching: A Biography of Anson Dorrance the Unlikely Architect of the Greatest College Sports Dynasty Ever by Tim Crothers. This book is about the coach of the University of North Carolina Women’s soccer team, in case you didn’t know.

With a title like that, especially the latter part, you can expect a book that is biased—especially since the author is also a UNC grad who not only covered the soccer team as an undergrad newspaper reporter but was given total access to the team while writing. Well, it is. While Dorrance is an excellent motivator and has great success, winning 18 national championships through 2005, he also has had the benefit of having been in college soccer from the beginning and, because of his success, securing some of the best female soccer players in the country. Not to downplay his success, but he takes the most skilled players, runs them through a program that is designed to take them to the highest level of fitness and then incorporates them into a system that is handed down from team to team. There are probably a lot of coaches that would consistently win under like circumstances. (Of note: He also coached the men’s team until 1989 and did not have the same success–never winning the NCAA’s and only getting to the final four once.)

That being said, the book is a good read for anyone interested in how a coach can motivate and grow a successful women’s program. As a former coach of girls, I see a lot of those things that he uses that I used successfully as well (and some that, given that my personality differs from his, wouldn’t have worked). While the book is not necessarily a blue print for successful coaching, it offers options. Interesting, comparing this book with Geno Auriemma’s book (see A Good Read under what I’m reading), you will see how there are similarities of style. Basically, the premise of both is that coaching, especially motivation, is different from that of men and a man trying to do this needs to adopt different methods to succeed. Maybe the best thing about both books is that both deal with how the coach’s growing up effected they way they coach. This is probably the best lesson anyone can take away from these biographies: to coach well, you have to do what works best for you. You can adopt but you also have to adapt.

Also, if you’re a big Tar Heel soccer fan, you probably want it in your library.

Nature Girl by Carl Hiassen.

I’m a big fan of Carl Hiaasen, having read not only all 11 of his novels but his two nonfiction collections of columns and expose of Disney World. (On the other hand, I must admit to not having read either of his kid’s books or having seen the movie, Hoot, which was made from one.) I like the way he takes a subject near and dear to his heart—primarily the rape of South Florida—and then uses a bizarre plot and wacky characters to get his point across. Maybe the reason I enjoy this kind of writing is because it follows closely the way I like to plot my stories.

In Nature Girl, the main theme is telemarketing harassment—in this case a mother trying to teach an especially obnoxious telemarketer a lesson in courtesy. In the process he brings in Jesus freaks, ecological tourist tours, marriage infidelity, and sexual stalking with just enough mayhem to make the reader keep turning pages—and stay up until 2 am to finish the book. Sure his plot may come out of left field and his characters are strange but this doesn’t mean it can’t happen and the people couldn’t exist. The combination, along with his writing style, are what make his novels so enjoyable and plausible—certainly not great literature, but worth reading. On the other hand, while I don’t think this is his best—there is no “Governor” and Sammy Tigertail is not a good replacement—but it definitely is in the top 11. Skinny Dip, the novel that preceded this, was much better and if you aren’t familiar with his work, one that I’d recommend as a good start. This doesn’t mean ignoring Nature Girl, it will keep you going until he writes his next.